As
the most popular operating system in use around the globe, Microsoft
Windows is also the most targeted OS for cyber criminals looking to
steal data and exploit systems. In the past when hackers attacked a
system, they were often looking to steal or change data to suit their
needs.

However, cyber attacks and malicious code are now being
designed that look to actually take
over systems that perform functions in major companies including
critical systems in the financial and power industries. Many of these
attacks are executed taking advantage of security holes in the
Windows operating system.

The U.S. government has created
a team of security experts to help industrial firms prepare
for a new onslaught of hackers that are bent on taking over the
physical systems of power plants and other industry hardware. The
reason that the U.S. government is creating a team to help private
companies is because as much as 85% of the critical infrastructure
for power and other utilities are owned by private firms.

The
Canadian Press reports
that many attacks have occurred overseas where hackers were trying to
take over physical systems rather than steal data. Hackers are
targeting power plants increasingly and recent attacks have officials
in America concerned.

"People are recognizing that the
ability to impact industrial control systems has increased,"
said Sean McGurk, director of control systems security for DHS. "This
type of malicious code and others we've seen recently are actually
attacking the physical components, the devices that open doors, close
doors, build cars and open gates. They're not just going after the
ones and zeros (of a computer code); they're going after the devices
that actually produce or conduct physical processes."

One
of the latest computer worms that could take over physical systems is
the Stuxnet worm. The worm is able to potentially infect computer
systems because networks and operating systems in many power plants
are very old and haven't been patched with new security fixes. The
networks are also often not firewalled from access by high traffic
networks and at times are not separated from the internet.

The
DHS has been deploying its teams of security experts around the
country to assess weaknesses in systems. These teams are also called
in to help companies identify and fix networks and computers after
cyber attacks. So far the security teams have been dispatched to
provide assistance 13 times, in nine of the instances the attacks
were deliberate, and four were an unintended result of an operator's
action.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

"I remember reading this year that the DMV JUST upgraded from a 20-30 year old mainframe. Can you imagine that?"

They had to go back to the mainframe. The one guy who was the administrator complained to the union. The union forced DMV to go back to the mainframe as it would put him out of a job. He has no requirement to train for anything new. So in another 20-30yrs after he retires they can upgrade.

/sarcasm off, yes I am kidding but only about that particular article. I have a friend who is desperately trying to upgrade some government networks but cannot because of the union will not allow it due to the workers.

We do have a ton of stimulus money left. Besides paying to study African ants, maybe we could build the private network. I think the private network is the best real solution and really is not that hard to do.

It is sad but true. I am all for Unions protecting workers from bad employers, but when they put security at risk or cause places to operate far less efficient just to protect a few jobs then they have lost their usefulness. Seriously, they have caused more jobs to be lost by off-shoring than they have saved using this tactic.

We don't need a different network. The Current networks are already designed to have networks within the overall bigger network. Lots of companies have inter WAN networks that go all around the world and they are not connected to the Internet per say. While it does use the same infrastructure it is no one the same network. The problem is that lease lines cost more because the telco companies know they got your balls in their grip if you want a completely secure WAN.